The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for aligning fabricated snack food chips. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for aligning, maintaining, and guiding the positions of curved snack food chips by contact with three points on the underside of the chip while the chip is on a moving conveyor (i.e., belted, mesh, or vibratory) during manipulation after frying and before packaging the chips in a stacked arrangement, e g., in a canister or other sleeve-type container or a tray.
In general, snack food chips of various varieties possess characteristic shapes. For example, tortilla chips are one of the more popular types of snack food products and have come to be associated with having a triangular shape. Additionally, snack food chips which are used for dipping, e.g., potato chips, tortilla chips, or corn chips, preferably are curved to enhance the scooping ability of the chip as well as to add strength to the chip. Alternatively, chip strength may be enhanced by making the snack food chips ridged or sinusoidally wavy.
With respect to packaging, a stacked arrangement of snack food chips, e.g., in a cylindrical canister, has been found to be popular for a number of reasons. Such canisters purportedly offer some degree of protection against breakage of the snack food product and, due to the compact nature of the stacked arrangement of the chips, they provide greater transportability of the snack food products, both in terms of bulk transport (i.e., large cartons of the canisters being shipped, e.g., from the manufacturer to the retailer) as well as the individual consumer being able to transport a single package of chips (e.g., in a purse or in a picnic basket). Additionally, the extended shelf life of a sealed canister of snack food chips as compared to a bag (commonly pillow-shaped and frequently sealed with a generally inert gas to prevent product degradation), as well as the ability to reseal a canister with a snap-fit-type lid once the canister has been opened, makes a canister an attractive packaging option.
In order to manufacture and package form-fried snack food chips efficiently, it is necessary to maintain control over the product configuration and arrangement throughout the fabrication process. An important aspect of maintaining such control is ensuring that after the chips are fabricated, e.g. fried or baked, and while the chips are moving on downstream transfer mechanisms, such as a conveyor belt or vibratory pan, the chips are arranged in aligned columns and are all oriented substantially the same way. Also, where the chips are being transported in rows of chips forming a plurality of side-by-side columns, it is sometimes desirable to change the spacings between adjacent columns of chips (e.g., spread them apart or contract them together) to accommodate downstream processing, such as application of oil and/or spices or packaging within a canister other sleeve-type container or a tray.
In accordance with principles of the present invention, an apparatus is provided for aligning and orienting each of a plurality of chips having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and opposed side edges, each chip having a generally similar curved shaped defining a concave surface and a convex surface extending from one side edge to the other. The apparatus comprises a transport mechanism, which transports the chips with their concave sides down and supported on the opposite side edges thereof, and an aligning rib. The aligning rib has a longitudinal extent and is engaged by each of the chips while being transported along at least a portion of the transport mechanism by straddling the rib with the opposed side edges thereof supported on the transport mechanism. The rib thus causes each chip which engages the rib to be generally oriented the same way as each other chip which engages the rib and causes each chip to be oriented so that an imaginary line extending from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the chip is generally aligned with the longitudinal extent of the rib.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of the specification, and wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures.